1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to pasta-making kitchen appliances and, more particularly, to appliances of this kind which are capable of producing elongated or sheet-like farinaceous products and which are suited for household use.
2. Description of the Prior Art
There are already known various kitchen appliances of this type, for instance, that disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,146,333, which are capable of initially mixing the ingredients of dough or pasta material and finally of kneading and extruding such materials. Another such construction which is particularly suited for household use is disclosed in a commonly owned U.S. patent application Ser. No. 184,351. In this latter construction, a mixing chamber is formed in the interior of the housing of the appliance where the incipient dough or alimentary pasta ingredients are being mixed to the desired consistency by mixing blades when the electric motor is driven in one sense, and where a conveyor screw mounted on the same shaft as the mixing blades and rotatable therewith kneads and simultaneously forces the dough or pasta material forwardly toward and through the orifices of an extrusion die when the electric motor operates in the opposite sense. As advantageous as this construction is in many respects, experience therewith has shown that a careful balance must be struck between a too high and a too low viscosity of the pasta material, that is, between too much and too little of the liquid ingredient or ingredients if operating problems are to be avoided. This degree of precision, unfortunately, cannot be expected from the average homemaker.
If the farinaceous material, such as dough or pasta material, contains too little liquid, it may be brittle so that the mixing thereof will be impaired, and the products will break at least at intervals upon emerging from the extrusion orifices, slots or similar openings of the extrusion die. This, of course, is very disadvantageous. However, problems are encountered even if the amount of liquid in the farinaceous material is high enough to avoid such problems. More particularly, when the liquid content is in the desired range, the farinaceous material is quite tough so that the components of the kitchen appliance which act thereon will be subjected to a substantial wear, and the life span of the kitchen appliance will be reduced accordingly, especially in a kitchen appliance for household use where highly wear-resistant material cannot be used for reasons of their weight and cost. On the other hand, when the material emerging from the orifices or slots of the extrusion die contains too much of the liquid ingredients, the external surfaces of the elongated products are tacky so that the individual products can adhere to one another after they have emerged from the extrusion orifices and traveled a certain distance beyond the same, which adhesion is very difficult to overcome without destroying or damaging the products.